A large device was deployed around midnight on the night of November 6 to 7, 2024. The fire ravaged a ground floor apartment. Several homes had to be evacuated.
For the third time since the start of the year, a fire affected the Saint-Jean residence, a three-story building located at 27 avenue Foch in Mende. It was a passerby, seeing flames two meters high licking the facade on the avenue side, who alerted the police. The fire broke out in an apartment on the ground floor, in building A.
Quickly on site, the police used two fire extinguishers to try to contain the fire. They evacuated residents, including one unconscious, before retreating outside. The firefighters then took action, with a large device.
Around sixty firefighters
Around sixty firefighters, from the barracks of Mende, Saint-Étienne-du-Valdonnez, Marvejols, Chanac, Florac, Châteauneuf-de-Randon and Rieutort-de-Randon, mobilized from midnight to 6 a.m.
The apartment was the only one to have been directly affected by the flames, but other accommodations suffered damage following the fire. The heavy smoke bothered several occupants of the building.
Uninhabitable housing
Twenty-five people were evacuated, including two sent to hospital. Among them, the unconscious person whose condition seemed to have improved the day after the disaster. Four police officers, who had smoke inhalation, spent half an hour on oxygen in the emergency room.
Some housing has been reinvested over time, but apartments remain uninhabitable.
Technical and scientific police
The investigation is ongoing. The police, on site at night, immediately began the first observations, but the conditions were very difficult, between the heat, the smoke and the smell of burning, explains Commander Nadège Thouard. The police therefore returned there this Thursday morning, accompanied by the technical and scientific police. The primary challenge is to identify the source of the fire.
This is the third fire to affect the Saint-Jean residence since the start of the year. On January 24, 2024, a mattress burned in the lobby of building A. On October 22, 2024, the fire started in a mailbox in building B. And on November 7, 2024, it was an apartment in building A that burned. was engulfed in flames.
